Brightline West have broken ground on the highly anticipated high speed train that will join Las Vegas with Southern California. The 218 mile rail service will be an all electric route with zero emissions with train travelling at 200 miles an hour in places.

I previously wrote about this proposed super highway High-speed Train Las Vegas to California nearly three years ago.

On April 22 2024 the first spike was hammered into the ground to signify the ‘breaking ground’ on the start of the construction of Brightline West. The tracks will run along I-15 between the road lanes with a proposed journey time of under 2 hours. The line will be a single track with passing places not a double track due to the limitations of the median between the road lanes.

This is a very exciting development and it is hoped that trains will start operating within 4 years but in time for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. The final station is going to be in Rancho Cucamonga (No me either!) which will still leave passengers 51 miles from the Los Angeles Olympic Park but it is served by the Metrolink service into Downtown Los Angeles. The only other station will be in the Victor Valley in San Bernardino County but not served by the Metrolink.

In Las Vegas the Brightline West Station is going to be located near the Las Vegas Strip, on a 110-acre property north of Blue Diamond Road between I-15 and Las Vegas Boulevard, conveniently placed for both the Harry Reid Airport and the Allegiant Stadium.

Ticket prices are rumoured to be around $400 per person round-trip but Brightline West say that ticket prices will be in line with petrol prices and parking costs for a similar journey without the stress or traffic delay. If $400 is going to be the proposed Adult ticket then isn’t an airfare more attractive?

Brightline West are still in negotiations with the High-Speed rail in California to extend the options in getting across California.

It all sounds very positive and it will be an amazing way to discover California hopefully not too long in the future.